"The Cask of Amontillado" Edgar Allan Poe

Essay by Austin_ColeCollege, UndergraduateB+, November 2014

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Cole

Austin Cole

English 102

Wallace

21 October 2014

Freedom to the End

Revenge is not a noble sentiment, but it is a human one. Time and time again throughout history revenge has been a strong motive for the action of man. Battles, wars, assassinations more times than not can be traced back all the way to one common theme: revenge. It is also no surprise that many stories have been written with revenge being the basis of the plot, and the American author Edgar Allan Poe often utilizes this and other raw sentiments. Edgar Allan Poe has a very distinguished writing style that shows a reoccurring theme of death, lost love, or both. He stills finds ways to elegantly intertwine these themes in some of his finest work. For example, in "Arthur Gordon Pym" and "Metzengerstein" he has the unique ability to tell his gothic tales of mystery and horror and simultaneously romanticize the audience by shifting from surface suspense and plot pattern to his symbolic play in language and various meanings of words.

In the short story first person narrative "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe the theme of revenge blinds a man long enough for him to kill someone but will haunt him for the rest of his life. A close look at the context and motif in the short story show indications that lead the reader to believe that the narrator did not walk away from the event unscathed.

The narrator of the story immediately tells the reader that he now "vows" revenge on Fortunato after not only hurting him but pushing too far and insulting his character. The setting is a carnival celebration in which Fortunato is properly dressed in jester clothes and seems to have indulged himself to his...